ITT: You recommend me a water heater. Please
 

Since this is the only place on the internet I trust for solid, good, helpful, honest information (and seeing how other posts like this always seem full of good info) I humbly come to you all asking for a water heater recommendation.

'Twas about an hour ago I was about to go to bed when I happened to notice a large pool of water around my water heater. After some initial investigating it seems the tank is leaking from the top vent area, which I now understand means it most likely needs to be replaced.

The current heater is a 38 gallon natural gas standard tank water heater. It has served our needs well and I don't see much reason to get something drastically different or larger. So which natural gas fired ~40 gallon water heater would you recommend?

I need this sh*t fixed fast so no special order stuff. I leave for a double national SCCA race Friday at noon so I need this fixed Thursday. I guess that narrows it down to something you could buy locally (local being Columbus, OH).

CLIFF NOTES = Natural Gas 40 gallon Water Heater, which is best?

Learn me


Thanks

Why get a 40 gallon? Spend a little extra on one of those tankless ones, and you won't be wasting energy keeping 40 gallons of water hot.

^ +1 for the trackless water heater.

http://www.tanklesswaterheaterguide.com/

A.O.Smith. Stick with the tank. For about $150 you can get a replacement, and have it in in under an hour.

Tankless are nice, but not really cost effective unless you use a lot of hot water, or are planning on spending the next 25 years in the same house.

Why?

Because I'm not staying in this house for more than a couple years.

Because converting from a tank to a tankless isn't a one day easy fix (which I need). The vent and gas line sizes might need to be changed.

Because my step-dad has one and I hate it. Every time I take a shower at their house it's like a box of chocolates. You never know what temp. water is going to come out of the spout, and it's mostly like to change on you 10 times during said shower.

Tankless is much more expensive and only works out financially if you plan on owning the house for a long time.

Go to Lowes or HD and buy a middle of the price range unit. If you don't plan to be there more than 5 years it doesn't matter one bit what brand you buy. I have replaced a water heater in my house and several (electric) heating elements before that. The best advice for preventing what happened to you is to inspect and/or replace the sacrificial anode inside your water heater every three years. It would have slowed or prevented the failure. If you were going to own the house for another ten years I would talk to you about picking a unit with the best kind of anode etc., etc., but in your case it won't matter. Just buy a middle priced one from the big box stores and be done.

+get the water tested and they'll tell you which anode will serve you best.

Spanks for that. Sounds like this is what I'm going to go for. Don't have much time to mull over brands or where to buy. Lowe's and Home Depot are local and will do same day install. I would install myself but I just don't have time, still need to finish getting my race car ready for this weekend...

Thanks again

the newer water heaters are fairy efficient anymore anyways. at least compared to a 20+ year old unit. coupled with the fact you wont be staying in the house, just get something that's good enough for that time period.